The area is wooded now, but soon will be partially cleared to allow the dog park and an extension of the walking trail along the Quinebaug River, Bousquet said. He hopes to see the park open by Memorial Day 2013.

Stu Neal, the organizer of the Canines for Combat Veterans event Saturday and one of the dog park project leaders, said the park would be funded by donations, but it will belong to the whole town, and the whole region. It will be the only dog park between Worcester, Mass., and Norwich, he said.

So far, $2,000 has come in from the family of former Putnam Mayor Michael Duffy.

Duffy “was an animal lover, and a big supporter of the community and events in Putnam,” said Duffy’s daughter-in-law Valerie Duffy of Putnam. It was a cause he would have liked, she said.

Bousquet said the Lions Club is investigating matching grant programs that could reduce the needed donations by half, but nothing’s been finalized yet.

The sign marking the future dog park is one of the giant metal dog statues with a bone cut out of its middle that was part of an art installation that came to Rotary Park

in Putnam two years ago. The town was given two dogs for permanent installation in town. The other is in storage, said Karen Osbrey of the Putnam Business Association and Putnam Arts Council.

The park announcement dominated discussion at the fourth annual Putnam Lions Club Dog Walk, which was the reason 40 people and 25 dogs came to the pavilion in the first place. The dog walk raised more than $2,300 on Saturday for Canines for Combat Veterans, an organization that provides trained assistance dogs to disabled veterans, Neal said. The organization is a division of National Education for Assistance Dog Services.

The specially bred and trained dogs can cost more than $20,000, but donations and events like Putnam’s help bring the cost for recipients down to less than half that, said Wendy Foster of Essex, as she petted her balance assistance dog, Tippy.